1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to coating thickness gauges and more particularly to a novel method and apparatus for measuring and recording coating thickness data and associated descriptive data through a graphical user interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
The art of measuring the thickness of a coating on a substrate has produced a wide variety of coating thickness gauges for measuring a variety of materials. In general, coating thickness gauges include a probe which produces an electronic signal responsive to a measured physical quantity representative of a coating thickness. For example, when measuring the thickness of an electrically nonconductive coating on a conductive substrate, the probe can include an inductor which registers a change in impedance based on its proximity to the conductive substrate. The impedance change of the inductor is reflected by a change in frequency in an LC oscillator which can be mathematically related to the thickness of the coating.
Conventional coating thickness gauges have also provided the capability of transforming the electronic signal representative of coating thickness into digital data and of storing a number of data points for later downloading and analysis. Typically, the coating thickness measurements are later sequentially correlated to a written description of the article being measured. Such a procedure, however, requires the user to manually keep track of which data points correspond to which locations on the object being measured, and are thus time consuming and susceptible to recording errors.
Thus, although coating thickness gauges have been developed to provide very accurate digital readings, the industry has not yet produced a coating thickness gauge with a user interface which facilitates recording and analysis of data, despite the ongoing advances in computer technology. Prior to the present invention, there was a need in the art, therefore, for a method and apparatus for measuring and recording coating thickness data which is easy to use and which ensures accuracy and reliability in the recording of measurements.